Tom Rainey Trio @ The Bridge Hotel. June 11

Tom Rainey (drums), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone) & Mary Halvorson (guitar)

(Review by Russell).

Jazz North East’s On the Outside strand gave a long-overdue north east of England debut to high profile New Yorker Tom Rainey. A veteran of countless sessions, his appearance at the Bridge Hotel drew a bumper crowd and it was standing room only long before the start of the first set. German born, New York resident, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock is firmly established on the Big Apple’s Downtown scene. Anthony Braxton alumni are many, and one of the brightest of his shining stars - guitarist Mary Halvorson - formed the third element in Rainey’s trio.

Rainey, quiet if not shy, said they would play two sets. Free jazz, improv, call it what you will, is a strange, mutating beast. Rarely does a performance begin at full throttle, the participants preferring to bide their time, testing the water. Rainey’s trio worked on composed-through structures (one perceptive listener suggested they could have been reading the dots) with break-out free flights. The sleight of hand - seemingly little happening to sudden tumult - is one of the wonders of the music. Tenor Madness was to be expected, shimmering, brushed cymbals, snare and raked wall radiator constituted an in-performance master class and glorious out guitar playing stunned the Newcastle audience. Halvorson has it all. Seated, making full use of her Line 6 unit, she ran the voodoo down; Les Paul, the Duane Twang, Joe Morris logic, John Russell irreverence, Sco and Terraplane Sharp. Prolonged applause said it all. Rainey expressed his thanks for those supporting this music or whatever it is we do. An encore, then it was time to pack-up and grab a chat with our American guests - they liked what they had seen of the city, we liked what we had heard. One of those nights.                   

Russell.